2011

Kaldur and Zemirah stepped out of the theatre laughing softly.

"I did not think I would enjoy that."

Zemirah paused and looked at him with scrunched brows.

"This was your idea."

"Forgive me, I meant that I would not enjoy it so much," he answered smoothly.

"You do realize that I can tell that you're lying, right?"

"I, in fact, did not," he answered with raised brows.

Zemirah nearly doubled over in her fit of giggles.

"Well, I can. So fess up."

"Alright, I had no idea if I would even like it. To be completely honest, I am not sure if I even understood all of it. I chose it because you wanted to see it. However, I did find it funny."

"Well, I'm glad we both had fun."

Zemirah was about to reach over and take his hand when she felt a familiar life-force approaching. She ducked behind Kaldur.

"Hide me."

"From what?"

Kaldur didn't get an answer as she immediately began whispering-begging for whomever it was to skip the concessions and kindly go to whichever theatre they were headed to. Kaldur guessed they didn't when she cut herself off mid-sentence.

"Dammit."

"They're still out here, I take it?"

"Yes. Just hide me, hopefully they won't notice."

They made it about four paces before she was proven wrong.

"Hey Zemirah."

"Hi Carlos."

Kaldur could hear the animosity oozing from Zemirah's voice; the newcomer however, clearly did not. He watched her up and down and Kaldur had to stop himself from placing himself between them. Zemirah herself placed her hands behind her back, her right wrist in her left hand's grip.

"So, you come to see your family in the movies?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Big Mommas?"

Zemirah's right eyebrow twitched and the Kaldur saw that her grip tightened, her long nails digging into her skin.

"Funny," she said.

The lack of laughter indicated to Kaldur that she found no humour in his comment whatsoever. Kaldur saw him open his mouth again and took the chance to introduce himself. Holding his hand out to shake, he carefully greeted the newcomer.

"I'm Kaldur, and you are?"

"Carlos."

Carlos was a few inches shorter than Kaldur himself, with penny-coloured skin and hair in cornrows. He took Kaldur's hand to shake and Kaldur made his grip a bit harsher than he usually intended. Carlos didn't complain, but his eyes did widen in in surprise. He let go and Carlos put his hand behind his back.

"And you are Zemirah's…?"

"Soulmate."

[Marks]

Caroline stared up at the building. They hadn't been gone very long, so the windows weren't boarded up like she expected. The walk here had been completely uneventful, no triggered memores or even the ghost of one. No one had recognized her either; and she couldn't quite decide if that was a good thing or a bad one. A small part of her hoped to recall what it was like to live here. Did she play with the neighbors? Spend holidays here? She stared at the building with quickly fading hope; still, the white walls of the house gave her no answers. She walked up to the door and turned the keys she stole from Carter's bottom drawer.

Oh, she was definitely getting in trouble after this.

Caroline flicked on the light switch. No power. Of course not. The bill hadn't been paid in who knew how long. She put the switch back down and pulled out a flashlight out from her hoodie's pocket. She flicked it on and started looking around. She scanned the walls and found two framed pictures. One of Aunt Carter and another woman who bore a striking resemblance to her. They were both smiling brightly, something she hadn't seen Carter do. Not once since the day she woke up in that hospital bed in Gotham. She took the picture from the wall and put it into the backpack she'd thought to sling on her shoulder before leaving. She finally turned to the other photograph. It was a picture of her, much younger than she was now, and a little boy… A little boy who looked just like her. She stared at it, completely mesmerized. The boy had to be related to her, he had to be. How could he possibly not be? She spared a thought to her friend who just so happened to be a clone born in a lab and paused. If there was a chance she and this boy hadn't come from the same womb, then where the hell did he come from? Furthermore, where had she come from? Caroline took it down and shoved it into the bag.

She wandered through down the hall to the bedrooms. The first door she opened happened to be hers. There were drawings of dresses that were various qualities, but resembled her own familiar handiwork. She must have drew these as well. She rifled through the drawers and found a dark green book with a small lock. Most likely a diary. She added it to her bag. There were a handful of other books, some for school, a copy of Little Women, a few toys including a grey plush rabbit. She tested out a few of the two perfume bottles and added those to the bag as well. She left and went to inspect the other rooms.

The next room was much brighter, white walls instead of dark grey, bright pictures and many more plush toys than hers had. But where she had drawn dress designs, the handwork on the walls were words, many of them names and corresponding dates. She skimmed though what she thought was an essay and found it was a very long, in depth description of the death of one Adelaide Hunter. There was something about it that held unto her psyche and wouldn't let go. She carefully unpinned it and added it to the bag. After a moment's hesitation, she grabbed the lone bottle of cologne as well.

The last room was the master bedroom. Or… at least it was supposed to be. It was almost Spartan. There were no mirrors, no cosmetics, nor had decorations like in the other rooms. There was a bed, a closet, and a set of drawers with clothes. There was nothing in there. Suddenly feeling uneasy, she closed the door, ran out the house and locked the front door behind her.

She wasn't sure if she would come back.

[Marks]

It was close to one AM in Gotham city. Chokichi woke up his brother from his nap.

"Come on, the dream was just getting good!" the blond complained.

"I'm sure it was, now get dressed before I get ice water."

Bankori drug himself from the bed and dressed, quietly swearing all the while. Meanwhile, his younger brother rolled his eyes and mapped out their route. The Batman was a hero, so he was more likely to hang around the crime ridden streets.

'Ha, that only means the entire city.'

Chokichi snorted at the thought and continued his work. The worst neighborhood seemed to be Park Row, so they'd start there and work their way outwards. Chokichi contemplated splitting the city between him and his brother, but then decided he didn't trust the older blond not to solicit the services of streetwalkers if left on his own.

How was he the younger brother again?

Soon, his brother was dressed and nagging him; and with only half an idea of how to proceed from Park Row, the two threw open the window and took off into the night, instinctively masking their flight with glamour.

Bankori was the one who remembered to double back and close their window.